Sunday, April 8, 2012

Now Entering Smartsville

Have you checked your e-mail? Winners were notified (about 30 seconds ago). If you did not get an e-mail, I’m SORRY!

I couldn’t believe how many people entered. And how many people got them all right! (More on that in a minute.) Last time when I did a simple ‘pick a number’ giveaway I had lots of entries, but this time…it was crazy! I felt like I was back grading papers (which was weird)…and there were a few, Oh, hey, s/he’s got a point! situations. (More on that in a minute, too.)

There wasn't a "B" in the bunch--"A" and "A-" grades across the board.

Which meant I had to draw names of those who got them all right from a hat.

First, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to do the crazy Elvis challenge, and I’m SORRY to the vast majority of you who got all the answers right but won't be receiving an ARC.

Next I want to say how totally COOL I think you guys are. And smart. And nice. This has got to be the nicest group of people on the internet. Everyone’s always supportive of each other in the comments, people thank me and compliment me and never snipe. Sniping is rampant on the internet. It’s a coward’s playground. But there’s never even a hint of mean spiritedness here. I really appreciate this “secret community” and the personalities that pop in and out and make me laugh and go, Awesome! Like the five factorial note– thinking that the little parenthetical exclamation point in the Contest Time text was more than humorous styling; that it was a mathematical equation—that “5!” meant 5x4x3x2x1 … which it does (but not here) and would have meant 120 ARCs to give away! This factorial thought only flashed through her mind before she realized that couldn’t be the case, and she apologized for being dopey. But see, that’s not dopey! The fact that it even crossed her mind was awesome!

Anyway, I love you guys, and I respect you, too. And I was sweating out the entries because, yes, there were some one word titles that I hadn’t even considered—specifically, “Almost”, “Something”, and “Don’t”. Only one of those (“Almost”) was a legitimate hit because it was the only one that appeared in Elvis’s dialog. There was some confusion with the rules and let me assure you that if you indicated titles that were NOT in Elvis’s dialog you were NOT marked off. But what I was looking for were the words that Elvis speaks that were Elvis song titles. And the title “Almost” near the end of the excerpt IS present in his dialog, but I had not counted it. So ch-ching! Up to 45. (Which suddenly seems very appropriate—wasn’t that the RPM of Elvis singles?)

(See, who but you guys would go, Yeah! That’s right!)

(You are saying Yeah! That’s Right…aren’t you?)

Also, there was the question of double-ups. A legitimate question, but no, I didn’t break the titles into titles and “subset” titles (going with the factorial / mathematical theme). For instance, I didn’t count [When] “My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again” and its subset “Blue Moon” as two song titles (but there’s no way I would count you off for pointing them both out, especially in your nifty multi-color coding). Same with “Honky Tonk Angel” and its subset “Angel”.

Finally, I just want to mention that it was very interesting to see how far and wide ya’ll are scattered. Lots of you in Canada! But my favorite city was “Smartsville”.

37 comments:

OH MY GOD! I WON! So excitesd! This just made my day/week/month/year! Best thing ever! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! AGGGHH! This means the world to me! (okay must calm down, must calm down...)

Okay I think I am calm now... Wait no... No mist hold it in... Okay I am calm. I am pretty sure my family just died of laugh because they were watching me freak out because of my excitedness. I couldnt even tell them why I was so happy because I was jumping up and down and screaming

And smartsville! That's me! You know they spent like 10 years fighting to get the s at the end of smarts back? Interesting huh? In the actual townof it their are only like 20 residences that live there. I live in the outskirts of it though. But I love the town.

I was so nervous to see who won and now i'm kinda bummed i didn't:( Congrats Kylie and all the other winners. I guess i just have to wait till august and just get it from the library like usual. You should post the right answers so the people who didn't win still know if they got it right. Just an idea but it doesnt matter if u don't.--Yusayera

RAWR! AH!....I didn't win -.-' When I saw the part saying check your e-mails, I was like 'What? Why should I?' and then I read the rest and I freaked out, I was like "OH MY GASH! I GOT TO CHECK, WHAT IF I WON?! LOAD FASTER GOOGLE CHROME, FASTER FASTERRRRR!!!"

My brother came over to see what was going on because I was yelling at the laptop ^_^ and when I opened my e-mail and didn't see any good news disappointment hit me HARD so I threw the stuffed panda at my brother in anger and yelled at him that I didn't win xD. He was laughing because of my excited state and then the sad state so he deserved it anyways :D

Moving on, then I finished reading the rest of the blog quietly grumbling to myself about my bad luck but then I brightened up on your comment about us being cool [I was like "Yeah! Take that society, Wendelin Van Draanen thinks I'm cool (Not me specifically but you know...details, details who cares bout them?)]:D

Oh, and congratulations to all those lucky insects...Erm, I MEAN people (not really ;) who won. No, but in all seriousness congrats to all of you who won! You deserve it!

IT'S ALL GOOD THOUGH!...all good...all good :3 (<--- Creepy smile, reminds me of my neighbor *shudder*) I'm going to have to wait until July for the book to come out...I can be that patient..most likely...Probably...maybe...I think? Ok, this comment's wayyy too long :D...I'll be waiting (Now I, sound creepy XD)

See Ya Wendelin!

P.S I would like to point out that I don't usually throw stuffed pandas around :)

Thank you! Your blog is seriously my favorite because I feel like we have a family here. We all get excited for one-another as well as sad. I follow some other author blogs and let me tell you that you are the only author that responds to people's commments, actually are faithful to adding a new post every Sunday and you do contest fo your books! So thank you for being an AMAZING author and thank you everyone else for being like a family to me. I love you guys! <3

It's great to see you so excited Kylie--glad I made your night! But I feel BAD that I caused stuffed pandas to fly (sorry Catherine!). There were way more entries than I would have anticipated...about 75 the first week, then quiet for a couple of days and then a bunch more in the past two days, which was also a little surprising (although I don't know why...deadlines, you know?)But I think it's a reflection on the readership here--you'll participate in a guess-the-number giveaway, but really GET INTO one that takes some effort. I'm sure there were a lot of people who saw the contest and said, I'm not doing that!...but that so many people did participate (and took it seriously) is really cool. I just wish I had 5! to give away :) Yusayera, almost everyone who entered got almost every one right, so it's just a matter of luck (or in your case un-luck, sorry!) of the draw.

PS Kylie, I can't believe you're the one from Smartsville! I had so many to go through that I didn't even check that. I just remembered seeing the city and thinking it was perfect. Interesting that the population is so small :)

Aw, too bad I didn't get picked, but still, very fun challenge. I can't believe the number of people that entered! Who knew we have so many secret lurkers. :) Chime in more, guys! Btw: I was going through all of Sammy's series, and I couldn't find a couple of things: How did Sammy and Hudson meet? And, what ever happened to that book Sammy got as a thank you waaayyyy back in the second book, I think it was?

Where be you other four? Imma go see if I can put the book on hold right now. Last time I checked every three days and then I ended up the fourth person. THAT SHALL NOT PASS! Thou shall be first in her area to read the book. :)

Cammy Lover/ Steph totally deserved to win if anybody. If she shows up Congrats! Oh and Optimistic4ever. For night of skulls i put the book on hold as like the 3rd person but they get like 6 copies at once so 6 people are the first in line. At least over here. But i had to wait a month till it got to the library and it was torture. That's why i have to wait a month after the actual release of the book. I'm just not allowed to buy books. (If i had my choice my walls would be book shelfs, all full. :)

Haha, I didn't write anything cuz I used one of my many pen names and I thought WVD would be all, "What...?"You guys know me...ANYWAY, I try to use Steph on LEAST possible things which is why I deleted my blogs for a while cuz I get paranoid?Ah, well.Oh, and omg, yes, I did win. But my mom laughed when I told her, "If some package comes in the mail addressed to a random name but FROM Random House, then GIVE IT TO ME."Sometimes we get random peoples' mail, but most of the time its stuff I ordered online with weird names. Also, when a cashier person asks for my name I've used Sammy before, but I've also used S-Kizzle, Sammy's rapper name?Ah, their faces = PRICELESS.Me: Hi Mom. How was work?Mom: Good. School?Me: So...I won a contest.Mom: Really? What did you win?Me: AN ARC OF SAMMY KEYES. OH, YES, PLEASE.Mom: ....You.Yes, mom, ME.But she was happy for me. ANYWAY, I gotta be checking the mail now so my dad doesnt think its not ours. Although, the guy should get used it. I did, of course, pick up the weird gene from my older sister.Bye!

I thought I commented here, but apparently it didn't go through. I got the e-mail just before bed, and then of course I couldn't sleep for another hour. And then today... the book arrived at ~5:30pm!

I had an exercise class tonight but barely managed to drag myself to it, since I was already immersed in the book. I don't want to drive anyone crazy, so the only comment I'll make for the next several months is that the title was perfect. I know you struggled with it, so I just wanted to let you know. And now I've stayed up way past bedtime again! Thank you!!!!!!

Thanks for posting "Beach" -- I'm glad the books went out. I sent the list in but didn’t get an acknowledgement so I was starting to think I should follow up…but now I know they went out and are already arriving! Thank you for the feedback on the title. It’s funny how one word can cause such tossing and turning! BTW, I have gotten e-mails from other winners who are not (for whatever reason) able to post comments. So we’re all accounted for and 5 out of 75 people are happy  Have a good day everybody—it’s storming like crazy around here and I am such a weather wimp!

You know what I just realized? I realized that the address I gave you was my mail address in GRASS VALLEY, not Smartsville, which means that there I'd another Sammy-lover in my town. I must find her/him.

And then I got this idea that you should do like a map or something just to show us where everyone who entered was from. Just put like the town name. I think it would be awesome to find out how wide the sammy-love area is. And we could see if any are near us, which is like me!

All Californians are weather wimps *squints accusingly*. Not Chicagoans, no way. When you live in a horrible weather state (Tornado Season! AHHHH!) you tough it out--which is why, when a tornado-warning siren goes off, you see kids and people running around the streets barefooth.I READ SAMMY KEYES AND THE POWER OF JUSTICE JACK. Yesterday.I was a boss. I studied thoroughly for my bio-chem test, watched the first Blackhawks game of the Stanley Cup playoffs (if any of you live in Arizona or support the Coyotes, I know youre probably laughing at Stalberg for messing up in the last 13 seconds in the 3rd period, HANDING you tge victory...STUPID STALBERG!)Thirdly, I read Justice Jack.Now watching hockey games takes stamina cuz they're 3 hours long. And studying for bio is like...giving yourself shots over and over to heal yourself. And reading the new Sammy Keyes without spontaneously combusting out of happiness is hard work, too.BUUUUT my whole "Official NON-SPOILING Review" on Justice Jack is on my own blog. I'm not going to keep blithering here about how HILARIOUS and AMAZING it was. The post is called 'Sammy Keyes and the Power of Justice Jack Has Just Exited the Uterus of the Publishing World'.Yes, I do realize the manner of the freakish title. But it makes sense, I promise.BUT OMG WVD. The "Uncle!" thing was so funny its not even funny how funny it was.And the horse thing? "Water, Water! Or Neigh! Neigh. Or something". THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL.BLOODY BRILLIANT, I TELL YOU.Thank you for it, by the way! :)

Ya know....After reading Steph's comment about how amazing the book was....I take back what I said earlier...I am NOT going to be able to wait until July 10 or somethin' to read the book....

WHY MUST THE WORLD HATE ME SO! I wanted to win....Argh!...*Sight* Well...Now the only thing left to do is somehow get control of time and space and move time forward about 3 months so I can read the book :D

I know, genius ey?....Although, I am going to need some ideas on how to get my hands on the force that controls time and space...

MAYBE I can make the sun.....Nah, that would result in the human race dying....Which cannot happen until I read the book of course... Eh, I don't know, I'll come up with something

If any of you see a story in the news about a crazy girl who now controls time, space and everything else....You'll know who I am :3

Anyways....I'm going to have to stop thinking about this, I start twitching every time I think of having to wait 3 MONTHS to read the book :'(....

Ah, well .....Study time and homework calls (I have state tests all week tomorrow >.< gah)

Catherine, as a response to your comment on my Justice-Jack-Review post on my blog...Seriously, I think that's the first person who's told me that. Mostly I get called "narrator", because I talk about my life as if it is a novel. Which, of course, it is! I was having a Sammy-At-The-Fairwell-Dance moment."But...I'm just me!"SO, THANKS. That was really BALLER of you to say. :DOh, and to Wendelin Van Draanen:The moment when your favorite author calls you 'squishy' is a good moment.A very, very good moment. Lol, I'm so embarassed by my weirdness...I would have been a little more 'normal' if I had known you would read it! But NOOOOO, I have to have a little tangit on giving birth to books, and Sammy being squishty, and shooting people and blowing things up! Hopefully your eyes glazed over all my emarassing rantings and only read the praises for your book? ;DBecause I really respect you and don't want you thinking I'm, like, bonkers. I mean, I am, but it's a sensitive subject.xoxo

I went to the library today allowed to get only 2 books, and hoping to find something new to read, but i came back with 3 sammy keyes books that i had already read because i wanted to reread them. I'm smiling all over again while reading them for like the 50th time. :)